Zack swallowed the jalapeño, too, setting the forks together and standing with the help of the back of the chair before limping across the kitchen to start on dishes. He couldn’t stand dirty things. It made him feel like he’d get yelled at if he didn’t clean anything and it was quite the horrible feeling.
“I don’t really care what we do.”
"Hey, let me get those. You've got to be sore from earlier, why don't you relax on the couch?" Bryn carefully took the dishes from his hands, quickly walking them over to the sink. "I've got the cleanup, Zack. It's fine."
Zack shook his head and took the soapy dishes back and continued to scrub them with the sponge. He turned his head back down and sighed quietly.
“Just go find what you want to watch, Bryn, I’ll be fine doing this,” He mumbled down at the dishes as he scrubbed.
"Okay," Jude agreed, though his unease showed in his tone. He didn't make any move to leave despite the agreement, nervously watching Zack scrub for a few minutes. "Hey, can… um… can we talk?" It was a dangerous kind of question because Bryn chatted often about many things, but only asked to talk when it was serious.
He didn’t look up as he scrubbed, nor did he when Bryn asked to talk. He just sighed faintly and expected the worst as he washed the plates off and set them down in the drying rack.
“Sure, I’m listening.”
Bryn pursed his lips and settled against the counter. "You know I have a vauge idea about your past, and I'm not… I'm not going to press you about it. You can share that on your own schedule, or even never at all if you want, but… um… I know that there are things that make you…" What was a good word? "… upset, or… demotivated or sad or- fuck, I'm getting off-topic- There's stuff that makes you feel bad. And you don't like to talk or have opinions or do much when you feel bad, and I want to know how to act around you because I wanna make you happy or at least comfortable."
Zack scrubbed a cup slowly as he gave a small shrug. “I don’t think there’s much to share. You know I worked with Humans a lot. I’ve just been so sexually used I don’t think certain things like whore or slut make me laugh anymore. Because I technically am that. And I spent periods of my life where I haven’t showered in so long that I did smell like a whorehouse on nickel night.”
"Okay, I'll make sure to keep myself from bringing that up. And… I know it probably doesn't count for much, but I don't think you're a whore or a slut or anything like that. I shouldn't have brought it up, that was really shitty and insensitive of me." He sighed, pressing himself into the counter a little harder. "But, that's… um… that's not really what I was asking about. I put you in a bad mood, I want to know if there' anything I can do or avoid doing that'll make things better for you."
“Just… just don’t say stuff like that. To that extent of slut or whore or whatever, even if you’re using it as a simile or something… just like, say stink or something, you know? I wouldn’t have minded that because I know I get stinky often. But just don’t… you know…” He trailed off meekly, not sure how to describe it. “I don’t want you acting like you can’t say stuff like that, but just remind yourself that I have been in a sex-worker’s shoes. I’ve been a slave to people who didn’t care about anything but my waist down and my mouth.”
Bryn nodded, taking the conversation to heart. "I'll watch my mouth, I promise" He sounded painfully sincere, though he knew he wouldn't have to for him to be taken seriously. He very rarely made promises because he always, always kept them. "Is there anything I can do right now to help you feel better?"
He grunted quietly and went back to silence, washing out the cup and drying it off personally before setting it onto the rack and continuing with some silverware and a bowl. He thought for a few moments and just shrugged again.
“I dunno. You can stay if you want.”
Bryn shrugged too, pushing off the counter and starting to walk out of the kitchen a bit. "I'll be on the couch if you want me, I'd like to cuddle and watch the horror movie but if you don't, that's fine." He paused right at the kitchen doorway, one last thought in his mind. "Yell for me if you need anything, okay? I'll be right there as fast as I can."
Zack nodded and continued with the dishes, only tilting his head up again when the Human left him. He finished with the dishes a few minutes later and wiped his wet hands off on a rag, washing down the already clean counters before joining Bryn in the living room, settling down on his usual spot on the couch.
Bryn had sprawled out, watching from underneath a stray comforter as some blonde-haired girl with questionable decision-making skills split off from the main group. He quickly shuffled over as Zack approached, clearing some room for him. "Not to push you or anything, but I'm in desperate need of some cuddles so I can pretend this chick isn't about to get murdered in the most terrifying way possible."
Zack tilted his head down a little but let Bryn cuddle up next to him like a scared little rodent boy, leaning against him as he himself relaxed into the comforter. He curled his legs up into criss cross applesauce with slight difficulty because of his stiffness, but still managed nevertheless.
Bryn pushed himself up against his side, looping his arm through one of Zack's and making sure his shoulder was eye level so he could hide just in case something bad happened on screen. He had to turn away when the chainsaw wielding murderer finally got to the blonde girl, letting out a little squeak of terror.
Zack didn’t really understand all of this. He watched without any sweat and he actually looked quite bored as fake guts splayed everywhere all over the walls. He was ready to ask his mate if he actually believed this stuff, but decided against it. It was obvious the other did believe it…
Bryn actually would've been quite happy for the distraction, whimpering as two members of the main group split off to look for their friends. They'd been making out when the movie started, so he already knew they'd be the next to die, but that didn't make it any less freaky when the killer started chasing them through the halls with severed heads hanging from his arms like the worlds most fucked up christmas tree. "Zack?" he said, pressing his face into his mate's shoulder to block out the screen. "Can you hold me? Please?"
Zack chewed on his fingernails but not in stress. He was still quite hungry now that boredom had settled in, and he was about to stand to grab a snack when he was stopped by Bryn asking to be held. He wrapped his arms around the smaller of the pair and sighed softly as the couple got killed just as violently as the first woman.
“Honestly…” He murmured so softly he couldn’t be heard. His disbelief in something so absurd was very slim.
"Thank you," Bryn's voice was weak, muffled from the way his face was shoved into Zack's chest. He'd peek out to watch the movie every so often, sometimes watching with bated breath as the unsuspecting victims were stalked bu the killer and sometimes letting out a soft whine of fear and hiding away again. No matter what he was animated, completely invested in the film no matter how badly it scared him.
Zack yawned and wondered about the gummy bears he had stashed away into the kitchen. Suddenly the temptation of the gummy bears was much more than sitting here listen to some model chick scream at the top of her lungs as she discovered the creepy serial killer man stalking her.
Bryn whined when Zack stood up but the killer came barrelling out from around a corner so he was more inclined to hide away in the couch cushions than protest. Not that Zack would care either way. It only took a few minutes of watching alone for Bryn to grab the remote and change the channel, sighing in relief when the strange latin-y language of demon 7 o' clock news filled the room instead of some teenagers horrified screams. Maybe he was just too much of a wimp to watch horror movies.
Zack reentered the room once the news was back on with some snacks. He was chewing on a few gummy’s most like a dog would, his mouth opening wide for each chew as to not get them stuck on his sharpened teeth. He sat and continued eating them like this, apparently used to the whole thing.
Bryn wrinkled his nose in distaste- the slobbery eviscerated remains of gummy worms weren't exactly his favorite sight- and scooched over to give Zack room to sit down again. He passed him the remote when he was done, giving him free rein over the TV. "Pick whatever you want."
Zack was tempted to put on some other type of horrifying show that had nothing to do with horror and a lot to do with screaming, but handed it back, grinning.
“You don’t wanna know what I’ll put on.” He had a smirk on his face. Besides he wasn’t really in the mood to watch anything.
Bryn perked up in interest, a playful gleam in his eye. "Well I do now, babe!" Bryn set the remote down on the coffee table and turned to Zack. "C'mon, at least give me a hint about what you'd put on if you're not gonna let me see it in person."
“Nu-uh, you wouldn’t like it, it has too much screaming.” He snickered into his hand, then threw a few gummy worms into his mouth and started chewing his pronounced chew to get the Human’s eyes off of him.
Bryn turned away with a look of playful disgust, grabbing the remote to change the channel. "I'm fine with screaming, it's the bloody murder that gets me all worked up. And I'm only asking for one little hint, can't you give it to me? Please?"
“Yeah yeah. I don’t think I'm in the mood to watch it, though, considering what happened this morning,” He teased, wondering how the Human hadn’t understood yet. Honestly, was he just blind to all of the possibilities?
Bryn, never one to pick up on subtext, finally got the message. He set down the remote again, leaving the TV on some gameshow he'd never seen before, and let out a little "oh" of realization. "You mean… I… um… okay. Yeah, we don't… um… we can watch something else. Sorry for pestering you about it, I swear I'm not trying to be this dumb."
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